Day 19: Smoke on the Water & Not One Single Bear

It's amazing how well you sleep when you really really need it. Last night after coming back from Walmart I pretty much conked out until this morning. I ate one of my sandwiches, made my coffee and said my goodbyes to the Shepherd's Inn. This place really has a lot of character and the room was very homey and comfortable.

I loved it there and wish all the inns were like this one. I only had one complaint. Before I left I mentioned to them that the internet is way too slow. They confessed that they have a satellite and have a lot of issues with it. So I recommended they look into Starlink since it's pretty cheap and much faster. They said they'll look into it.

If There's Smoke There's Fire

As I left the room to pack the car, I realized the smoke outside was quite dense and it wasn't super easy to breathe out there. I asked if the road out was blocked but they told me if I'm going north I should be fine.

So off I went, headed towards my first stop of Inga Lake. On the way there I had a peak at the Mercede's air filtration software indications and it showed the level of 500 PM2.5 bad particles in the air. I didn't really know what that meant exactly, except that it was at the maximum level. The display showed "Dangerous", but inside the car, the levels were much lower at 80 PM2.5, which was still very unhealthy. I did a bit of research and saw that the advisement for such levels was to stay indoors! I put the ionizer on inside the cabin of the car to improve the air quality further.

I'm so happy my Mercedes has this filtration system because I would not have been able to do this drive otherwise. As I was driving along the highway the smoke stayed very thick and at dangerous levels of 500 PM2.5. Inside the vehicle, after the ionizer had kicked the levels were reduced all the way down to 1 PM2.5. What a difference! Thank you Mercedes Benz for including such an incredible filter inside the vehicle.

Since the air quality levels outside were so dangerous it meant that hidden trails along the route were off the table. So I decided to remain inside the vehicle for the day and just try and take pictures from indoors. Hopefully, tomorrow will be a better day.

Inga Lake - Smoke on the Water

I reached what had initially meant to be my first stop of the day, but since the smoke was still very bad in this area I didn't get out of the car. Sadly no famous boat docking photo today of the car on the edge of the water. You could tell it was a really beautiful lake, but unfortunately with the smog and smoke the visibility was poor. Everything was smoggy and grey.

Pink Mountain - Out of the Danger Zone

After driving for about 67 KM, we were finally out of the smokey area. The air quality outside had improved from 500 to 98 (which is still unhealthy, but at least not hazardous.). And the visibility had improved as well, yay! I could still see clouds of smoke in the distance, obstructing the views of the tops of the mountains, but I figured at this point it would be safe to get out of the car for short explorations.

So I pulled into Pink Mountain Road for my first hidden trail. There was a dirt road that went on for more than 20 KM. On the way there I saw an old man, a beautiful horse, and lots of equipment and cabins across the land. The older gentleman was looking at me. I was looking at him. So I decided to stop for a chat.

Meet Ollie Getz and his wife Donna. Chatting with Ollie was fascinating as he was a wealth of information. It was like talking to an encyclopedia. Every story had more and more interesting information. To me, Ollie had the look of Daniel Boone and his legends. He was known as "Tough Ollie" because he had run a camp in the Yukon territories. At this camp, the government would send him prisoners that had committed non-violent crimes like petty theft. The idea was if they survived Ollie's camp and got his seal of approval they could be released without jail time.

Ollie was a hunter, a trapper, and a parole officer. He trained dog teams and broke horses, including the horse I saw him with which was a Norwegian Fjord and Spanish Mustang. He told me that in all aspects, whether training or running the camp, it was his way or the highway. He had even worked with the Green Berets and Foreign Legion. He definitely earned the nickname "Tough Ollie"!

As if that wasn't enough, he also hauled and built log cabins on the property by hand! He and Donna built them all themselves. This incredible couple lives 100% off-grid. They have a small power generator for wintertime that they only use when it snows. They said they access the streams nearby for their water supply in the summer.

Donna's maiden name is Montgomery and she is a descendant of General Montgomery from the Second World War. She explained that he was her great uncle. I was absolutely in awe listening to these two. They are both such legends!

I gave Ollie my last bottle of 14-year Glen Levitt Single Malt Scotch and he was extremely happy. I bid farewell to Ollie and Donna and was off up the trail to see Pink Mountain.

Unfortunately, as I continued along the first road it started to get really bad. You all remember the last time it was really bad, right? At some stage, I decided the road was just unpassable for poor Steele. so I slowly did a reverse, forward, reverse, forward, U-turn and headed back the way I came. It was a shame because I had made it most of the way but the last few kilometers the road quality was so bad I just couldn't chance getting stuck.

As I was headed down, I bumped into a couple driving up the path with their Subaru Outback. I stopped to tell them it gets pretty tough up there, but since they had a true 4x4 they figured they could probably make it through. They introduced themselves as O'Brian and Stephanie and we exchanged information and they promised to send me some pictures if they made it to the top. I also told them I'm from Israel and they were interested in hearing about the Holy Land. Hopefully, we'll be in touch in the future!

Sikani Chief Falls

Next up was the highly recommended Sikani Chief Falls, which many people told me I just could not miss! Luckily the air quality at this point was almost back to normal. The air felt brisk and cold and the smell of smoke was gone, replaced with that fresh clean wood smell, like pine and oak. What a difference compared to this morning driving through plumes of smoke.

The trail to the falls was also not an easy one and was 17 kilometers of rough dirt road. However, I was confident it was passable because I saw crews working along the way with large Caterpillar tractors who did not seem surprised by me driving down the road.

Regardless, there were 3 different places where I had to exit the vehicle to make sure I was placing the wheels in the right place to make it safely past obstacles. Not for the weak of heart! Finally, I made it to the top and I was the only car there. I then had to hike an additional 2 km to the falls.

I was a bit nervous hiking here because it was so very remote. I didn't want to run into any bears or get lost along the trail since there were many trail branch offs and they all look the same. My sense of direction is not exactly the best, and my phone's GPS and signal were not working. So at this point, I was quite concerned. Don't get me wrong, I love remote places like this, but I also like feeling safe. This was probably the most remote trail I've ever been on, and I just wanted to make it out in one piece.

After about 30 minutes of hiking, I could hear the waterfall in the distance. It got louder and louder and I could see glimpses of it through the forest but I still had a ways to go. Another 30 minutes and I was finally at the waterfall! What an incredible force of nature! And such majestic views. It was not an easy trail, and I just barely made it, but what an accomplishment and such a great reward at the end.

After 2 full hours of hiking (up and down some pretty steep trails), I finally made it back to the car. I was obviously very happy I made it out alive and felt pretty proud of myself for completing a vigorous hike. After that, however, I was absolutely wiped out. I was ready to go to the hotel for a shower and rest.

Before I had started the hike, I had noticed that my rear right tire was looking a bit low on air. So coming back from the hike, I was unsure of what I would find waiting for me. I figured if there was no air in the tire by the time I got back from the trail, I'd be royally screwed! Luckily when I checked it after my exhausting hike it seemed like it was doing ok. As I started to drive I checked the tire pressure and they were all 34 PSI so we were good to go!

On the drive back I bumped into a little red Kia with a young mother and daughter who were off to do the same hike I had just finished. I told them that there were a few spots along the drive that they need to be careful with. I wished them luck and as I passed the road crew, I stopped and told them I wasn't so confident that that little car would make it and if they didn't see the car come back in the next 3-4 hours to send someone to go look for them.

Fort Nelson

Everyone had told me that there were so many bears in this area, but I didn't see a single one on the way to The Woodlands Inn in Fort Nelson. Nope, not 1 bear, but TWO! Luckily there wasn't traffic behind me so I managed to quickly stop and pull over, reverse a few meters and pull up next to two beautiful black bears just grazing on a bit of grass.

I may be becoming a bit of a daredevil after yesterday... Now that I've had a taste, I'm UNAFRAID! 😉 No, but don't worry. Despite getting out of my car right next to a bear, I did take precautions. I had the door open, ready to leap back in, but the bears were very preoccupied having their snack and hardly seemed to notice me at all.

As soon as I got to Fort Nelson, I filled up on gas since we want to have a full tank whenever we can. At the station, I met Larry and his beautiful dogs, Lady and Touk.

I learned that Larry is from Coal Ridge Nebraska, but that he is moving to Alaska for retirement and wants to hunt, fish, trap and just relax. The American (retirement) dream. I told Larry that he's not the first person I've run into who is driving up to Alaska this route. I bid Larry a safe journey and gave him a postcard for the Hidden Trails Expedition so he could read for himself.

I arrived at the Woodland Inn where I would be spending the night, but it was not at all what I was expecting. Most of the places I've stayed in (the one- or two-star hotels and Inns) were pretty small establishments. Not this place.

Sarah, the front desk manager greeted me and gave me the rundown of all the hotel amenities. There was a bar, a restaurant, a gym, a steam bath, an ATM, a vending machine and a small shop. Not to mention the beautiful scenery of the surrounding outdoors.

Luckily, this location had Starlink fast internet so was able to do my blogging from the hotel room. This "room" is more like an apartment than anything else.

There's a kitchen, bathroom, living room, bedroom and all the appliances, cutlery, dishes, pots and pans that I'd need to make myself a full 4-course dinner! Hey, Sarah, I'm very impressed!

Water Under the Bridge

Driving into Fort Nelson I drove over a very beautiful bridge and on my right I saw a huge river with a very wide bedrock. At the river's edge, I saw a couple of cars parked along the water. Well you know when I see places like that so I wanted to go back and investigate.

After I checked in I asked Sarah how I might be able to get down there, and Sarah was kind enough to guide me. So off I went for a quick photoshoot of Steele and I on the bedrock of the river.

I’ve never done a blog before but I can definitely see how product placement works in a blog. But to be honest I really do use all the items and brands I blog about. You can see firsthand where I am taking advantage of my Nespresso coffee maker, the Jackery, my igloo cooler and my Mercedes Benz that’s taken me to the places I want to go through thick and thin….

I'm off to bed. See you tomorrow folks!

-Shlomo